What's gerrymandering?
Let's talk about a topic that makes voters and politicians alike ANGRY! We're going to talk about Gerrymandering - that is the process in which voting districts are redrawn in a way to favor one party during elections. As you'll see, this is why election outcomes on Census years (which tend to be when districts are redrawn) are a really big deal. So we'll talk about how some of these cockamamie voting districts come to be and explain how Gerrymandering can affect the outcomes (and misrepresent voters) during elections. But even with all these rage-inducing and bizarre district maps, it's important to remember that it isn't ALL political scheming, but also a reflection of the tendency for Democrats to live in urban areas.
SOURCE: Gerrymandering: Crash Course Government and Politics #37. CrashCourse. Published on Oct 31, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnhFm5QVVTo
The congressional districts in the Philippines were originally based on an ordinance of the 1987 Constitution, which was created by the Constitutional Commission, which ultimately relied on legislative districts, as drafted in 1907. The same constitution granted Congress of the Philippines the power to legislate New districts, either through a national redistricting bill or partial redistricting by province or city. Congress has never approved a national redistricting bill since the 1987 Constitution was approved, while it has gradually created 34 new districts, out of the 200 originally created in 1987.
This allows Congress to create new districts once a place reaches 250,000 inhabitants, the minimum required for its creation. With this, the local dynasties, through the congressmen, can exert influence in the creation process of the district by means of the creation of bills that create new districts from the old ones. Over time, as the population of the Philippines increases, these districts, or groups of them, will be the basis for carving out new provinces from existing ones.
One example was in Camarines Sur, where two districts were divided into three districts that supposedly favor the Andaya and Arroyo families; it caused that Rolando Andaya and Dato Arroyo, that otherwise would have run against each other, ran in separate districts, with a district that supposedly did not even surpass the minimum of 250,000 inhabitants. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that the minimum of 250,000 inhabitants does not apply to an additional district in a province. The resulting divisions would then be the cause of another gerrymander, where the province would be divided into a new province called Nueva Camarines; The bill was defeated in the Senate in 2013.
REPHRASED FROM: Gerrymandering. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering#Philippines; https://www.philstar.com/nation/2010/03/18/558593/noynoy-hits-creation-camarines-sur-district-dato; https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2010/04/09/564542/supreme-court-ruling-camsur-clears-senate; https://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/regions/06/08/13/senate-fails-pass-nueva-camarines-measure
SOURCE: Gerrymandering: Crash Course Government and Politics #37. CrashCourse. Published on Oct 31, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnhFm5QVVTo
The congressional districts in the Philippines were originally based on an ordinance of the 1987 Constitution, which was created by the Constitutional Commission, which ultimately relied on legislative districts, as drafted in 1907. The same constitution granted Congress of the Philippines the power to legislate New districts, either through a national redistricting bill or partial redistricting by province or city. Congress has never approved a national redistricting bill since the 1987 Constitution was approved, while it has gradually created 34 new districts, out of the 200 originally created in 1987.
This allows Congress to create new districts once a place reaches 250,000 inhabitants, the minimum required for its creation. With this, the local dynasties, through the congressmen, can exert influence in the creation process of the district by means of the creation of bills that create new districts from the old ones. Over time, as the population of the Philippines increases, these districts, or groups of them, will be the basis for carving out new provinces from existing ones.
One example was in Camarines Sur, where two districts were divided into three districts that supposedly favor the Andaya and Arroyo families; it caused that Rolando Andaya and Dato Arroyo, that otherwise would have run against each other, ran in separate districts, with a district that supposedly did not even surpass the minimum of 250,000 inhabitants. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that the minimum of 250,000 inhabitants does not apply to an additional district in a province. The resulting divisions would then be the cause of another gerrymander, where the province would be divided into a new province called Nueva Camarines; The bill was defeated in the Senate in 2013.
REPHRASED FROM: Gerrymandering. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering#Philippines; https://www.philstar.com/nation/2010/03/18/558593/noynoy-hits-creation-camarines-sur-district-dato; https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2010/04/09/564542/supreme-court-ruling-camsur-clears-senate; https://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/regions/06/08/13/senate-fails-pass-nueva-camarines-measure
